Eidfjord epitomizes most traveler’s view of Norway—rustic, mostly treeless moorlands—surrounded by snowcapped mountains and waterfalls.

The “included” excursion was a visit to the Scenic  Hardangervidda Nature Center.  The single highlight of the Nature Center visit was the 25 minute panoramic film putting the viewer in the seat of a helicopter flying over Norway’s ice fields, glaciers, fjords, and waterfalls.  Despite the beautiful surroundings and film, the Nature Center excursion proved to be underwhelming.

Among our life list items was a Baltic cruise.  After our great trip with Viking on the Grand European Tour in 2015, we opted to cruise the Baltic with them, and will be joined by Nan and George (Kay’s sister and BIL), Jim and Bernice (friends of Nan and George), and Ralph and Debra (also friends of Nan and George).  The cruise will take us, via the Viking Star, to Norway, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden.

In order to catch our flight from Little Rock to Dallas, we departed home at 6:30 AM; Kay dropped me and the luggage off at the airport at about 7:30 AM, drove to the Holiday Inn, parked the car, and caught the shuttle back to join me.  Our flight to Dallas was uneventful, but at Dallas the British Airways flight was late arriving, and thus departing.

The overnight flight was long and tiring, and we arrived at Heathrow too late to catch our next and final flight to Bergen, Norway.

After several gyrations with Heathrow’s transportation, security, etc. we caught our rearranged flight to Oslo, Norway.

Getting through their passport windows and security was a real challenge, time wise, causing us to miss our rescheduled flight to Bergen.  We finally caught a flight to Bergen, arriving about 6 PM, though NO LUGGAGE.

Thus, the saga of flying from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, to Bergen, Norway.  Lesson learned:  we will try to never ever use VIKING AIR for flights accompanying their cruises—there is not enough time scheduled to make international connections!

On Monday, April 3, an appointment with Dr. De Castro’s ANP provided us with details regarding the impending laminectomy and recovery, including do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts).  We followed that appointment with further preregistration for tomorrow’s surgery.

Tuesday morning early, 6:30 AM, found us at CHI Outpatient Services in Hot Springs. After an extended wait, I was ushered into the pre-op for another extended wait. 

Finally, about 10:15 AM anesthesia was applied, and I woke up about 11:45 AM thirsty and a little sore.  They sent us home a couple hours later—modern medicine—from what a few years ago would have been a week’s hospital stay. I managed to walk just shy of 2 miles that afternoon after arriving home.

I continued walking on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, feeling more pain each day.  Succumbing to the pain, I took Tylenol 4 with codeine, but it did not do much for easing the pain.  Restoration of bodily functions was a huge issue and the lack thereof contributed greatly to the pain.  Finally, on Monday, a week after surgery, I began to feel better, and have continued to progress—though it’s two steps forward and one step back.  Nerves in the coccyx area are awakening, and sometimes quite intense; a heating pad resolves the pain almost immediately.  I have continued walking every day, from 2 to 4 miles, and the sciatica is gone for the most part.  Some soreness remains in the calves, but possibly because they are being used extensively since no stoops or bends!

After two weeks, I got to drive (at least from the doctor’s perspective), and that helped with the boredom.  
It seemed like I was never getting “well”, but everyday, I would feel a bit better than the day before—this is going to take a lot longer than anticipated!

On May 1, Dr. De Castro released me to do anything I wanted, except lift heavy objects.  I had walked a total of 75 miles in the four weeks since surgery!  

Meanwhile, Kay continued to excel at golf, winning all of her last 3 events.

We used the next few days finishing packing for our biennial major trip, a cruise to the northern capitals on the Baltic.

With surgery impending on April 4, Kay and I invited Karyn, Matt, Ridge, and Aker to visit Jenny, Brian, and Harper in Memphis at the zoo.  It is so heartwarming to see our blended families spending fun times together, and that they did on Sunday.  Ridge and Harper were best “buds” again having not seen each other since Thanksgiving, and Aker was not to be left out, making her presence known the entire day.  As always, the exhibits were world class, and the LEGO sculptures were awesome.  Despite it being a long day, we had a great time knowing it would be a while before getting to see them all together again.